The Girl and The Goddess: Stories and Poems of Divine Wisdom

Another fabulous Nikita Gill poetry collection: "The Girl and The Goddess: Stories and Poems of Divine Wisdom"

["Let her be a little less human, a little more divine

Give her heart armor so it doesn't break as easily as mine

Meet Paro. A girl with a strong will, a full heart, and much to learn. Born into a family reeling from the ruptures of Partition in India, we follow her as she crosses the precarious lines between childhood, teenage discovery, and realizing her adult self. In the process, Paro must confront fear, desire and the darkest parts of herself in the search for meaning and, ultimately, empowerment.

Nikita Gill's vivid poetry and beautiful illustrations have captured hearts and imaginations--but in The Girl and the Goddess, she offers us her most personal and deeply felt writing to date: an intimate coming-of-age story told in linked poems that offers a look into the Hindu mythology and rich cultural influences that helped her become the woman she is today."]

This was...deep. Like shit. 

Nikita is fabulous and her poetry is always beautiful and meaningful and so connecting. But this was...gut-wrenching. Seriously. Besides the usual beauty and meaning and connection, there were some seriously hard topic covered in this collection (please, please, please see the trigger warnings below). 

I learned a lot, like I always do with Nikita's works. About myself, about other women. About Hindu mythology and Indian culture. About some of the horrors that I've been so blessed with never having experienced (cultural horrors, violent horrors--seriously, please head the trigger warnings at the bottom of this post).

This book was phenomenal and some of her best work yet. It took me a while to read (my heart needed to take breaks so it wouldn't).

Trigger Warnings: rape, sexism, racism, war, violence, poverty, classism, colonialism, bullying, eating disorders, homophobia, etc

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